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particular

Pronunciation: /pəˈtɪkjʊlə/

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Definition of particular

adjective

  • 1 [attributive] used to single out an individual member of a specified group or class:the action seems to discriminate against a particular group of companies
  • Logic denoting a proposition in which something is asserted of some but not all of a class. Contrasted with universal.
  • 2 [attributive] especially great or intense:when handling or checking cash the cashier should exercise particular care
  • 3insisting that something should be correct or suitable in every detail; fastidious:she is very particular about cleanliness

noun

  • 1a detail:he is wrong in every particular
  • (particulars) detailed information about someone or something:a clerk took the woman’s particulars
  • 2 Philosophy an individual item, as contrasted with a universal quality: universals can be simultaneously exemplified by different particulars in different places

Phrases

in particular

especially (used to show that a statement applies to one person or thing more than any other):he socialized with the other young people, one boy in particular

Origin:

late Middle English: from Old French particuler, from Latin particularis 'concerning a small part', from particula 'small part'

Spelling help

The ending of particular is spelled -lar.

particular in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of particular in the US English dictionary

Nearby words

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